Oh, The Irony

By: Flora Oliveira

“My body my choice,” a statement institutionally oppressed women use when fighting for their bodily autonomy, has recently been engulfed into the bigoted riots against the shelter in place orders. Twitter has wonderfully given name to the delinquent white women at the forefront of this idiotic engulfment of ‘my body my choice.” The names for these white supremacist troglodytes range from Karens to Susans to Beckys. The KKKarens all over the US have unironically displayed why the phrase “my body, my choice” is important in the times of COVID. Those most vulnerable to the disease have not only seriously questioned the state of mind of the KKKarens but have also been very vocal that the “my body, my choice” movement applies to not wanting to be viciously infected with COVID. Especially not when it’s due to another person’s delusional interpretation of systematic oppression. 

Even before COVID KKKarens compromised the health of Black and Brown people through gentrification, racial profiling, and who can forget their role in colonialism? So what do we do now? We surely cannot let these women run around invading stores without masks, rioting in big groups, or collaborating with anti-vaxxers right? But the truth is, the only time the state steps in is when the advocates are Black, Brown, or of the working class. 

So why do they understand the use of “my body, my choice” only when it’s convenient? Aside from being the most skilled of appropriators, white women do not acknowledge their privilege. Acknowledgment of privilege could be the solution to saving generations of minorities. Privilege is like superglue, no one wants to be caught with it plastered all over their bodies, but once it’s on, you can’t ever get it off. Just to be extra clear, in this case, the superglue is you blinding whiteness, you don’t want it, but we’d love to see you try to rip it off. 

 The fault is not all that of white women, though. America’s systems were created directly through the use of white supremacy. Moving from a country and colonizing other humans is not excusable because God came to you in a wet dream. Do not get me wrong here, God isn’t the problem, it’s your idealization that God has specifically given you, and ancestors a free pass to murder indigenous, Black, and Brown people. And also the way yall used missions to trap, murder, and subdue minorities too. 

Through centuries of continued violence, Asians, Black folk, Latinx communities, and now Hispanics have all been at the forefront of violence and entrapment. Who hasn’t? The answer: white people. Once again, the reason for that goes back to colonization. Your far removed ancestors are not deities, they are not Wiccan goddesses, they are not souls of those once oppressed. Your American ancestors were either Konfederates, in the KKK, or like you, are still, directly complicit in white supremacy. This is why you’ve continuously been granted a free pass, even when your meaningless, and outright delinquent filled riots against the shelter in place piss everyone off. 

You don’t get shot down while running in your neighborhood (Ahmaud Arbery), you don’t get framed, manipulated, or imprisoned for a rape you didn’t commit when you were 14-15 (Kevin Richardson, 14, Raymond Santana, 14, Antron McCray, 15, Yusef Salaam, 15, and 16-year-old Korey Wise), you don’t face capital punishment for smoking pot (literally any Black person ever), you don’t get “accidentally” murdered by police or SWAT while you sleep in your own home (Aiyana Jones and Breonna Taylor). You don’t get killed for being trans while Black  (Tony McDaid). You don’t get killed for a “counterfeit” 20 dollar bill (George Floyd). You don’t suffer at the hands of ICE or racist doctors.

 You, as a white privileged person, don’t suffer for just being a minority. That whiteness grants you the privilege to not suffer when you approach police armed with an automatic weapon all in the name of protesting shelter in place. That whiteness grants you tear gas-free, brutality free, and most of all, a murder free time when expressing your 1st amendment right. 

Go ahead, continue “enhancing” your natural beauty by filling your lips, ass, and hips, placing in weaves, spreading that thick layer of melatonin imitating spray, and using AAVE but at the end of the night remember who can take it all off and who can’t. Now to close with the wise words of Angela Davis: To all you white “freedom fighters”, “in a racist society, it is not enough to be non–racist, we must be anti-racist.”